John Albert
Babak Emadi
Ruffin Pearce
Nancy Albert
Jean Galloway
J.T. Petersen
Russell Crandall
Kara Gooding
Todd Rubenson
Michelle Dagenhart
Terry Lett
Melanie Sizemore
Dianna Desaulniers
Linda Nash
Peter Tart
Maya Packard
Roxie Towns
newsletter 704 719 1255 noalbert@carolina.rr.com traffic/block captain 704 894 2283 rucrandall@davidson.edu social 704 335 0280 mdagenhart@carolina.rr.com membership 704 236 4286 print_it@bellsouth.net
zoning 704 334 1648 babak@urbana-architecture.com ECA treasurer 704 377 3936 jgalloway@firsttrustinc.com cankerworm/trees 704 604 5660 Kara_gooding@hotmail.com social 704 377 0052 terrylett@bellsouth.net HENF/block captain 704 332 9808 nashfamily1@bellsouth.net social 704 334 2196 mpackard@carolina.rr.com
parks and rec liaison 704 331 4989 rpearce@wcsr.com advertising/Race co-chair 704 340 2529 naturesponds@bellsouth.net secretary 704 386 4401 todd.rubenson@bankofamerica.com ECA president 704 335 0909 msizemore@realindex.com zoning 704 372 4147 petart@carolina.rr.com zoning/beautification 704 342 1000
Oops! It’s “The Rutzler”.
I enjoyed “The Sunnyside of Elizabeth” in the fall 2007 Elizabeth Quarterly. I especially loved the great picture of The Rutzler that you included with your article. Conformity did a thorough renovation to this building and converted it to condominiums in 2005. We also had it placed on the National 2
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Register of Historic Places. Thank you for bringing this sometimes forgotten piece of the Elizabeth neighborhood to light. I also wanted to clarify that the name of the building is The Rutzler, not the Rentzler. Not a huge deal, however, we are very proud of this building. – Patricia Fenton, Conformity Corporation
front cover and photos this page by Nancy Albert, back cover and photo right by John Albert
beautification/trees 704 719 1255 jalbert@carolina.rr.com
Topics on trees: tree banding update by Kara Gooding
on your street or on your block, that is not banded. The distribution of these supplies is an effort by the ECA to encourage neighbors to band these overlooked trees, even though they might not be their own. If you’re willing to band a tree, we’ve got the supplies for you! So get a group of neighbors, come to the park, get some supplies and insure that Elizabeth gets banded.
This Fall marks the first year that the Elizabeth Community Association sold and supplied tree banding kits to residents. On Saturday, October 27th the ECA achieved its goal of distributing more than 5,500 feet of tree banding material! Thanks to all the residents who bought supplies and special thanks to all the volunteers who The City’s Part donated their time and energy What’s the City going to do? to help distribute these supplies. The city has committed to band only certain city trees: willow But we’re not done yet! Due in oaks, 22 inches in diameter or part to overwhelming demand larger, on city property. A lot from Elizabeth residents, the of city trees won’t be included, ECA is sponsoring a tree band and it’s strongly encouraged volunteer day on Sunday, that residents band those December 2nd, from 11am to neglected city trees. Some 5 pm in upper Independence
deadline for spring 08:
Feb. 15th
editorial content:
noalbert@carolina.rr.com advertising:
naturesponds@bellsouth.net ------------------------------------full page ad
size: 6.53” x 7.53” (1306 x 1506 pixels) half page ad
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Park. On this day, the ECA will be distributing supplies for banding the park trees, any unbanded city trees or trees on rental property. So take note of any area in our neighborhood, especially
residents are even double banding their city trees because these mature trees are so valuable to our neighborhood, and for unexplained reasons get a disproportionate amount of cankerworms each year.
Ad placement is at the designer’s discretion.
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The city has also committed to aerial spraying in the Spring. However, residents still need to band. Every bug that is caught in a trap will result in 100 less bugs in the spring. This will increase efficacy of the aerial spraying and lower cankerworm infestations in years to come.
Michele Labounty 2609 E. 5th Street mlabounty@bellsouth.net
Why Band? If you needed any more evidence as to why to band, Charlotte has the distinction of having the worst cankerworm infestation in the US. To put this in perspective, a severely infested area is considered one where one square foot of bands or traps gets 300 or more bugs. Charlotte’s mature trees are currently at 3,000 bugs per square foot. Our trees need our help.
Dan and Dianna Desaulniers 2222 Greenway Avenue print_it@bellsouth.net
Will White 2221 E. 8th Street wwhite5@carolina.rr.com Elizabeth Geppert 1920 Bay Street egeppert@gmail.com
Michael Plunkett 2127 Kenmore plunkemr@earthlink.net
Central High by Nancy Albert If you’ve driven or walked down Elizabeth Avenue recently you may have noticed that the old Central High School building has emerged from months of being covered with scaffolding to reveal a beautifully restored façade. In 1920 Elizabeth Avenue became the site of Charlotte’s first structure built specifically for public
Please go to the ECA website for more information (www. elizabethcommunity.com), check in with your closest block captain, or email me at Kara_ gooding@hotmail.com. Hope to see you on December 2nd! Supplies? Questions? Contact one of our tree captains:
Ann Baldwin 534 Lamar Avenue bbaldwin2@carolina.rr.com
Ladd Vandeventer 2124 E. 5th Street laddvan@aol.com
Mary Franklin 512 Pecan Avenue tfranklin8@gmail.com
Kristan Magas 2201 E. 5th Street kdm2201@gmail.com
Melanie Sizemore 2309 Vail Avenue msizemore@realindex.com
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secondary education. For about ten years previous to that date the city had operated a high school in the former First Ward School building. Central High School was designed by Lockwood, Greene and
photo by Nancy Albert
So please band your trees and maintain your bands as the season progresses. Remember, a full band needs to be cleared and re-Tanglfooted or replaced in order to be effective.
Company, industrial engineers and architects, under the direction of J. Norman Pease. It has undergone many alterations and additions over the years and is now part of Central Piedmont Community College.
High Legacy Campaign was a tremendous success with more than $375,000 donated by alumni and friends. On June 17, 2006, a memorial garden was dedicated across the street from Central High School. Legacy Campaign funds were used for When it opened, Central High the work on the façade of the was a school for whites only. building, which was completed It wasn’t until September of this fall. On September 30, 1957, when Gusteves Roberts 2007 CPCC hosted a multibecame the first Africanclass reunion and re-dedication American student to enroll, that of the Central High School the school was desegregated. building. Alumni from the Class In comparison to many other of 1923 to 1959 attended this city schools, Central High was historic celebration. To honor integrated peacefully and in the education they received 1959 Gusteves Roberts became at Central High the alumni the first black student to established an additional fund graduate from a previously all to provide scholarships so white school in Charlotte. that many more students will During its years of operation, realize their dream of attending Central High established a college at CPCC. tradition of academic excellence Today, the handsomly and engendered the ongoing renovated building houses loyalty of generations of CPCC’s registration, students. Among its graduates counseling, tutoring, and are the late CBS correspondent financial aid services, as well Charles Kuralt; journalist, as classrooms. historic author and public relations professional Jack The Elizabeth Book Club Claiborne; Jim Beatty, the first by Frances L. D’Amato, MA man to break the four minute mile indoors; City Council Come join the Elizabeth Book member Patsy Kinsey and noted Club. We meet on Tuesdays at retailer George Ivey, Jr. 7 pm. We aim for the second Tuesday of the month but Efforts to restore the street sometimes change the week façade of Central High began depending on our member’s in 2001 when Jim Beatty and travel schedule. Right now six others approached CPCC about neighbors are active members preserving the Central High and we’d like to add four more. building. A steering committee We use the Main Library Book was formed and led by Beatty Club kits so we always have and Patsy Kinsey. The Central enough copies for our members.
We like to read stories about people in other cultures, like To See and See Again, Three Cups of Tea, Kite Runner, Night, The Girl With the Pearl Earring, Snow Flower and The Secret Fan. In September we read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Patchett. For October it was Good Harbor. For the November 6 meeting we read White Teeth by Zadie Smith and for December 11 it will be Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. If you’d like to join our club or find out more about us please call Frances D’Amato at 704 379-7923 or email francesdamato@bellsouth.net Homes Tour by Terry Lett The Homeowners at 1915 Bay Street had this to say about their experience with the Elizabeth 2007 Homes Tour: “My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed opening our house for the 2007 Elizabeth Homes Tour. The opportunity allowed us to meet some really wonderful people while at the same time helping raise money for our great community.” –Holly and Charlie Hunter Many thanks go out to all our homeowners and businesses who opened their doors for this year’s Homes Tour: the Middlesworths on Pecan, the Hunters on Bay, and Beth Rippetoe on 5th Street, Esthetics-Center for Dermatology on Clement, and The Charlotte Council of the people pages
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Live nativity / petting zoo loud noise while I pump my by Michelle Dagenhart gas. I now look for gas stations that respect customer’s privacy Hawthorne Lane UMC, located and don’t force me to listen to at 501 Hawthorne Lane, will music. I found one on Selwyn be performing an outdoor live and Briarcliff, so while it’s out nativity on Sunday, December of my normal route, I now go 23. There will be four shows on there for gas. the half hour beginning at 6 pm and ending at 8 pm, as well Yesterday I had lunch at Cosmos as a petting zoo for children to on College Street. I stopped enjoy from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. going there years ago not The neighborhood is warmly because I didn’t like the food, Garden Clubs on 7th. A very invited; however, dress for which I did like very much, but special thanks goes to Roshmi the cold. On Christmas Eve, because the loud music and the Mukherji and Sangeet Rajan on Monday, Dec. 24, Hawthorne patrons trying to speak over the Louise Avenue as well as Savvy Lane UMC will also hold a music was much too much for my & Co. on 7th. They came on Christmas Eve candlelight ears. Well I won a $50 certificate board at the eleventh hour... service at 5:30 pm and a to Cosmos from a Main Library great neighbors! candlelight communion service party and decided to try it again. at 11 pm (both indoors). The waitress told me if I came We would also like to say after 2 pm it would be better. thanks also to all of our Noise pollution: sponsors: Elizabeth Avenue I went after 2pm and saw on and Grubb Properties/Novant can we stop it? all the TVs that A Night in the by Frances L. D’Amato, MA Healthcare Partnership, our Museum was playing, but so was corporate sponsor, Cooking Sometimes I feel I’m out of the loud music. The sound of Uptown, Charlotte Pipe & step with this fast paced world talking was gone because the Foundry, Charlotte Council where the more noise there is, place was almost empty, but the of Garden Clubs, Conformity the better people like it. music still blasted. Am I alone Corporation, Hawthorne’s Have we gotten so far away in thinking that soft music and NY Pizza & Bar, Urban Home from our center that we’re a quiet atmosphere is better Magazine, The McAllister afraid of silence? for digestion? Could anyone Group, Iron Butterfly Pilates actually like to hear loud music I happily live in the Elizabeth Studio, Dickens-Mitchener & while trying to enjoy a meal? community, close to uptown Associates, Jenko’s, Dupont but far enough away to enjoy A few months ago I stopped in & Slay Textile Conservation, the powerful trees, large lots, at Talley’s on a Saturday and Roxie & Jane Towns, Prudential and most importantly quiet the music was so loud I couldn’t Carolinas, Carpe Diem, The homes. My neighbors don’t play hear myself think. I spoke to Royal Gardens, Icon Interiors, their stereos so loud that I need the manager and he turned Tom Higgins-Edward Jones to run away to get away from the music down and it hasn’t Investments, and Solera it. However, when I venture out been loud before or since. I Mediterranean Cuisine. to buy gas at the local Exxon shop there as well as the Fresh And last but not least thank station, I’m accosted by loud Market all the time. you to all our volunteers! It was music. I have to wear earplugs I only go to the swimming pool another great Homes Tour. just to be able to stand the at the Dowd YMCA because 6
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anywhere else in the facility the music blasts on. Some people come to the YMCA to nourish their spirit and mind as well as their body and quiet is best. Two days ago I was stopped at a light and my car was shaking as the bass in the car next to me was so loud that it was causing a mini earthquake. If I could have, I would’ve made a right turn just to get away from that noise, but another car was in front of me and I was trapped.
Although the Arditti String Quartet is Europe’s preeminent New Music quartet, they requested the venue at the last minute and it was little advertised so I knew there Noise 2 would be a small but very by John Albert dedicated audience. As usual, I went to check the green This is not an Elizabeth article room. As I turned on the light but rather a little story I wanted I saw John Cage stretched out to share with all of you about on the floor doing yoga. After what is noise. apologizing, greeting and One cloudy Sunday afternoon bringing the quartet to the at a New England campus stage, the concert began. They I came into the concert hall performed John Cage’s Freeman to prepare for a performance. Etudes, a set of beautiful and
photos by Nancy Albert
Does anyone out there see the need to respect the other
person’s privacy and taste as I do? If yes what can we do about it? Please let me know what you think by sending me an email. francesdamato@bellsouth.net.
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toys children love and parents encourage them to use: small basketballs and hoops, wagons, tricycles, plastic baseball bats and balls.
The yard reminded me of my yard, just three houses down at the end of 9th on Clement Avenue. Only the memory is of 18 years ago The man who famously wrote when our small children, Silence also reveled in what Julia and Catherine, played nature had added to his comwith other neighborhood position; it was all music to him. children: Harrison and Janey, Helen, Audrey, Will and Susan, Road Race Shepard, Louisa, Robert, and by Michelle Dagenhart occasionally Liz, Anna and Shelley. Tricycles, soccer balls, Planning for the 2008 skates, and sidewalk chalk Elizabeth Road Race has begun. littered yards on Clement Last year our race raised Avenue in the late 1980’s. over $9,000 for trees in our neighborhood. Volunteering I’m also reminded of stories for our race is one great way from those who’ve come to visit you can help further the their old homes on Clement tree planting effort. An open and 9th streets where they race committee meeting is grew up in the Elizabeth scheduled for Sunday, January Neighborhood during the 30’s 6 at 5:30 pm at Hawthorne’s and 40’s. Wonderful stories Pizza. Please consider attending have been told about each the race meeting to help plan family and the tradition of each and implement the race coming household hosting a holiday up on Saturday, March 29, children’s party. Our house’s 2008. basement was the Halloween haunted house. Slow down, Children have been playing on children playing? 9th street for over 80 years. by Elizabeth Bevan What’s changed is that the A small white A-framed sign Elizabeth neighborhood now set at the curb caught my eye needs signs along the sides of last week while driving down our streets to ask motorists to 9th Street: “Slow Down… do their part in insuring the Children Playing!” In the front neighborhood’s children can yard next to the sign were lots continue to play safely. of children’s toys, the kind of 8
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The Historic Elizabeth Neighborhood Foundation is in the first phase of the application process to update the neighborhood’s Small Area Plan. As Ken Lambla who directed the first plan adopted by Charlotte City Council in 1985 continues to remind me, a small area plan is not merely a land use plan but a quality of life statement the Elizabeth neighborhood makes about what it wants for itself. Individuals, groups, businesses, hospitals, churches, schools and any other stakeholders in the Elizabeth Community are going to be invited to share their vision for Elizabeth in the coming months. The objective is to develop a vision statement that reflects what the neighborhood wants for itself as we begin this updating process with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Department. That small sign on 9th street helped me realize one vision I personally have for our neighborhood: parents on 9th Street or any of our residential streets won’t have to put up signs that say slow down so children can play to remind others we are a neighborhood with families! Elizabeth must remain a wonderful place to raise children as our front yards and sidewalks continue to be safe places for them to play. The neighborhood streets must not be turned into a series of short cuts for
photo by John Albert
quiet pieces. There were 14 people in the 400 seat modern concert hall with large glass side walls. A sudden storm with loud thunder burst onto the stage with blinding flashes of light. The quartet struggled to compete. John Cage looked up to the windows from the front row with obvious delight.
automobile traffic passing through on the way to get somewhere. As a neighborhood we should encourage accommodation and use alternative ways to get around: walking, bicycling, and using public transit such as buses or trolleys. If you’d like to join in the process of developing a vision for the Elizabeth neighborhood either by becoming a facilitator of meetings on developing a vision statement or have a group that would like to participate in the process, please contact me, Elizabeth Bevan at 704 334-3684. HISTORIC ELIZABETH NEIGHBORHOOD FOUNDATION, INC. is incorporated under the laws of the State of North Carolina as a nonprofit corporation for the purpose of improving, preserving and restoring sites and buildings of historical or archaeological interest and related activities in and around the area known as Elizabeth in the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. The Historic Elizabeth Neighborhood Foundation is an exempt organization under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and contributions are tax deductible. Upon receipt of donations to HISTORIC ELIZABETH NEIGHBORHOOD FOUNDATION, INC. of $250 or more, a written acknowledgement will be send to each contributor for the year the donation was received.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nh3CmrrslA
Contribution can be mailed to: Historic Elizabeth Neighborhood Foundation P.O Box 35068 Charlotte, NC 28235-5068.
Arlington South by Nancy Albert More than 4000 crosses, Stars of David, Muslim crescents and Dharma wheels greeted morning walkers at Independence Park one Saturday in early October. The installation called “Arlington South” was set up as a memorial to fallen U.S soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as civilian casualties, by the local group Veterans Village who provide help to returning veterans.
main photo by Nancy Albert, inset photos ©2007 by Carol Marley/ StellaMaris Imagery www.rosewood graphics.us/carol/other.html 10
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Holiday party by Michelle Dagenhart Everyone who lives in or has a business in Elizabeth is invited to the holiday party. If you’ve been before, you can catch up with old friends. If you’re new to the neighborhood, this is a great opportunity to meet some new friends. This year the ECA holiday party will be held at the home of Elaine Scott and Jerry Tylman, located at 2400 Kenmore Avenue on Friday, December 14. The festivities will begin at 7 pm and end at 10 pm. The ECA will provide a spiral ham and refreshments including beer and wine. Please bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Your dish should be on a disposable platter and should serve approximately 10-12 people. No RSVP is required, just show up. If you’re not planning to come until later in the evening, please drop your dish off early at the host house. If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Dagenhart 704 335-0280 or Maya Packard 704 334-2196. We hope to see you there!
Paul Simard, M.Ed 704.858.4802
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